How to go about bending and gluing curved headboard

[Rob Joeseph]

Hey guys,

I am in the process of building a curved headboard for a bed frame. The thickness is roughly going to be between 1.5" - 2". I attached a pic to get an idea.

Since I don't think I'll have the space and means to bend the fully assembled panel I was thinking of making 6 " - 9" wide boards and bending each one from a form. Then gluing them together to make the full panel. My concern is not making close enough copies of each bent board but some allowance for sanding is fine.

Does this seem like the best option to create this panel? I am also considering a potentially easier route such as plywood bending or veneering.

I have never glued up bent boards before either, was curious if someone had experience with this.

Happy Holidays

curvedheadboard.JPG

[Dave Richards]

Will there be posts on the ends of the panel? If so, I would be inclined to kerf bend and glue a veneer layer on the back. My first choice would be coopering and either shaping with hand tools. Or, I have an idea for a jig that could be used to create a smooth curved profile with a router.

[Jamie Buxton]

If you want to make it from all solid wood, and if the grain direction is horizontal, you don’t need to bend any wood. The technique is called coopering. You set up the board edges so that they’re not exactly at 90 degrees from the board face. When you edge-glue the boards, the panel comes out with some curve. The amount of curve depends upon how much you bevel the edges. After glue-up, you can use a hand plane or a sander to smooth the board faces into a smooth curve.

[Wayne Lomman]

The best way to do this is laying up multiple layers of plywood on a curved caul with finish veneers on the faces. Using ply gives you the required strength and stiffness in all directions. However, since you don't have room to do this in one piece, you will have to do it in stages.

I suggest splitting the task into 6 or 7 vertical pieces. Make matched yin yang curved cauls to this shape so that when you clamp the component you apply uniform pressure both sides. This ensures that you end up with identical pieces with no random ripples. Leave the outer layer of face plywood off. When you have all your pieces made, dowel and glue them together side by side to make your full bed head. Sand it and then apply the face veneered ply to both sides. This adds the final structural element to the entire component. This still requires some space but you are going to have to deal with the whole item at some point.

Use ply no thicker than 3/16 for the whole job. As I said, this is best done as one large glue up but making up multiple sections will still be solid as a brick s...house. Cheers

[Robert Engel]

Plywood seems the correct way to go. You really need a vacuum press to do it.

Other than that, hardwood and the coopering technique described but that's a lot of glue up, tricky clamping and LOTS of labor!

[Mel Fulks]

I use Italian bending ply. Check with local supply houses.

[Wayne Lomman]

I use Italian bending ply. Check with local supply houses.

es, this is the ply to use. I could not for the life of me think what to call it, Cheers
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